Content Warning: This section contains a discussion of teen alcohol abuse and alcohol poisoning.

Going to college is a time of transition from childhood to adulthood. As Cath and Wren navigate their first semester of college, they have vastly different approaches to exploring their identity as they come of age. Because of their mother’s desertion 10 years ago, change makes Cath nervous and upset; she wants things to stay as they have been. Wren wants so badly to escape the trauma of their youth that she overcorrects, binge drinking and dramatically restricting her diet.

Both Cath and Wren had to grow up before their time after their mother left when they were eight. In the wake of her abandonment, they both exhibited symptoms of extreme trauma: Wren stole “Simon Snow pencils and Lip Smackers and a Britney Spears CD” and “cut some other girl’s dress with safety scissors,” while Cath “wet her pants during Social Studies because she was scared to raise her hand to ask for a bathroom pass” (144). Due to his mental health conditions, their father often could not appropriately care for them. Cath and Wren saw it as their responsibility to recognize the signs when their father needed medical intervention and blamed themselves when they missed them.